New York Knicks fans were rolling deep in Philly and took over the Wells Fargo Center during Games 3 and 4 of the Sixers’ first-round series against the Knicks, especially during Sunday’s 97-92, thrilling New York victory.
“It tells you that Philly fans don’t believe in Embiid and don’t believe in the Sixers that the process failed,” Fox Sports radio legend Rob Parker told The Shadow League.
The mob scene spoke volumes. The franchise player for the Philadelphia 76ers wasn’t happy about it. The fruits of “The Process” and the bearer of all opinions that come with the way the franchise set itself up for these moments has been unable to get his team to the promised land.
With everything at stake for this season and the city of Philly’s MVP playing his heart out on one leg, the city couldn’t even show up for him.
They had Allen Iverson, Dawn Staley and Dr. J in the stands, but, according to reports, they were surrounded by Knicks fans who made the 2.5-hour trip from NYC to see their team go up 3-1 in the series.
The “MVP” chants for Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, who dropped 47 points, were the loudest chants in the arena. That also didn’t sit well with The Big Cameroon.
Embiid Disappointed At Philly Fans For Letting Knicks Fans Takeover Home Game
“I Love our fans,” said Embiid, who had 27 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in a Game 4 loss. “I think it’s unfortunate, and I’m not calling them out but it is disappointing. Kind of pisses me off especially because Philly is a consummate sports town, and they always show up. So I don’t think that should happen.”
While Embiid shows love for the fans, that’s a damning indictment on them as well. There’s no way that Philly can be in a home game against a division archrival in a playoff game and have 3,000-4,000 of the 19,000 fans be Knicks fans. It’s a direct reflection on the city’s attitude toward the franchise right now.
You would have to assume that the deep city pride in the franchise is not there.
I was in Philly over the weekend, and if you didn’t know that the team was playing at the Wells Fargo Center, there definitely wasn’t anything special in the atmosphere. No buzz around town, not even downtown, related to the Knicks and 76ers playoff clash.
Joe Embiid Has Never Gotten Philly Past Conference Semis
As successful as Embiid has been personally, he’s never been able to stay consistently healthy enough to help the Sixers get to a conference final. They made the playoffs the last six seasons and lost in the conference semifinals five of those seasons. The other loss was a first-round elimination in the 2019-2020 season.
The Knicks haven’t won a basketball championship since 1970, so the over-the-top enthusiasm included putting Knicks jerseys on the Wilt Chamberlain statue outside of the arena, and rabid Knicks fans congregating inside the arena to rejoice in the victory, without as much as a fight put up from one pissed-off Philly fan.
Chants of “F-k Embiid” rained down and echoed throughout the arena.
A city known for its grit and protecting the brand seemed to lie down in defeat. The Knicks can wrap the series up back at MSG on Tuesday night. Maybe the Sixers can muster some pride and get the series back to Philly for Game 6 and give the fan base a chance to redeem itself.
How Will Philly Fans Respond If Given Another Chance In Game 6?
Usually when a superstar makes a plea to the fans for support, even going as far as saying he’s disappointed in them, the fans respond. A proud fan base like the 76ers, who last saw championship glory in 1983 under the leadership of Dr. J and Moses Malone and enjoyed a wild ride by Allen Iverson in the late 90s, early 2000s that fell short but earned him a statue, will probably pack the place out in a Game 6.
First Embiid will have to get them back there by using that “pissed” persona to stave off elimination from a Knicks team and fan base who smell blood.
